Page 14 - Christianity among the Arabs

^nnsuaris lonoweu me iNesiunaii uieeu, anu were buujeui io me superior
pontiff of the Nestorians residing in Chaldea, is so certain as to be beyond
controversy. (Mosheim, op.cit., p. 161.)

The rise of Mongols into an Asian power in the thirteenth century affected the whole
history of Asia in various ways. Chengis Khan, founder of the Mongol empire was born
in Mongolia, probably in AD 1167. In his war against his enemies, he was greatly helped
at first by Toghril, chief of the Nestorian Christian Kerait tribe. Chengis was a man of
extraordinary stamina and resourcefulness, lie eliminated his rivals one by one and
brought all the Mongol tribes under his control, including Naimans, Merkit and the
Keraits. He was elected Khan of all Mongols. That was the starting point of a series of

conquests which led to the creation of the greatest empire the world has ever known.
The conquest of the whole of China was not achieved during his life time, but a large
part of northern China was under his control. The Mongol presence in China continued
under his successors. Chengis’ grandson, Kublai Khan (1259-1294) subdued the whole
of China in AD 1279 and the Mongol rule over China lasted until AD 1386. Under the
two successors of Chengis Khan, the seat of Mongol power remained in Karakoram. It
was only under the reign of Kublai Khan that he moved his winter capital to Peking.

The conquest of China brought the Mongols to the threshold of South East Asia. The
Mongols made several campaigns in South East Asia and the old empires of Burma and
Vietnam came under their control. It was the destruction by the Mongols of the power
of the kingdom of Mien (Burma) in the eleventh century that secured the independence
of Thailand and saw the establishment of the first independent Thai kingdom centered
in Sukhodya.

About the Mongol empire Denis Sinor points out that there was a sudden widening of
the geographical horizon of the peoples within the boundaries of the Mongol sphere of
influence. It was an epoch when, "all the territory within the four seas had become the
domain of a single family; civilization had spread throughout, and all barriers were
removed. Fraternity among the races had reached a new zenith. (Denis Sinor, Inner
Asia, Indiana University Publication, 1969, p. 163.)

Though Christianity made great success in Central Asia, it did not mean Christianity
was the predominant religion there. Except among certain tribes such as Keraits,
Naimans, Merkits and Uighers (partially Christian), Christianity was only a small
minority among the Central Asian people. From the beginning of the Christian era,
Buddhism from India was widespread among the Turks. The famous Indian monk Jnana
Gupta spent ten years (575-585) in the court of one of the Turkish Khans, T'o-Po, and
organized a centre for translation and cataloging of Buddhist books. In the 16th
century, it was Lamaism, the Tibetan Buddhism, which spread rapidly in central Asia.

Islam which originated in Arabia in the seventh century was a great missionary religion.
Islam slowly began to penetrate into central Asia and by the 13th century, Islam
became the predominant faith among the Turks in central Asia. Yet numerous bodies of
the Nestorian Christians were still scattered over all Central Asia.